Agreement includes player options for 2023, 2024 and 2025
PEORIA, Ariz. – The San Diego Padres have signed right-handed pitcher Nick Martinez to a one-year contract for the 2022 season with player options for 2023, 2024 and 2025, President of Baseball Operations and General Manager A.J. Preller announced today. To make room on the 40-man roster, the club placed left-hander Adrian Morejon on the 60-day Injured List.
The 31-year-old Martinez pitched for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball Organization last season and went 10-5 with a 1.62 ERA (27 ER, 149.2 IP), 1.03 WHIP and 146 strikeouts to 39 walks (3.74 SO/BB ratio) in 23 games. He finished first on the club in strikeouts and second in innings pitched. Martinez also won a silver medal this past summer with Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, going 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA (2 ER, 11.0 IP) in two appearances during the tournament, including a start in the gold medal game vs. Japan (1 ER, 6.0 IP).
Martinez last pitched in the states between 2014-17 with the Texas Rangers. In four Major League seasons, the Miami, Fl. native went 17-30 with a 4.77 ERA (220 ER, 415.1 IP) and 237 strikeouts in 88 games (68 starts) for the Rangers. He began his NPB career in 2018 and compiled a 21-22 record with a 3.02 ERA (127 ER, 378.1 IP), three complete games and 297 strikeouts in 63 games between the Nippon Ham Fighters (2018-20) and SoftBank Hawks (2021). He was originally selected by the Rangers in the 18th round of the 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Fordham University.
